Zimbabwe delves into the US market

Zimbabwe delves into the US market

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has sent its Americas Marketing Department on a marketing and fact-finding mission to the US to better understand the US market and to boost tourist arrivals to Zimbabwe. This undertaking is part of a 4 state mission covering California, Denver,Philadelphia and Dallas where travel shows are being held by Travel and Adventure Shows USA and other back to back meetings with travel consortiums and other travel professionals across these states.

In a statement from the ZTA Chief Executive, Mr Karikoga Kaseke confirmed that the team had been dispatched on a two-pronged mission, that is;- to market destination Zimbabwe as a tourist destination to the US market and to learn or better understand the US market trends. “We have been realizing exponential growth in the US market year on year with the first nine months of 2016 recording an astounding 40 % increase in arrivals from 44 938 arrivals in 2015 to 63 021 in 2016.” he said. Indeed the US has been the chief anchor of the entire Americas market which recorded an increase of 37% from 51 546 arrivals in 2015 to 70 381 in 2016 of the same period under review. An upward growth trend has manifested itself in the US since 2014.

“The US remains a critical traditional market and part of the intention is to gain a larger market share of the US. While we have been hard pressed for resources and have not done much in the US, it was prudent to launch this mission which we believe will add spur to our marketing efforts as the marketing body of the tourism sector. This is a market we need to diligently investigate and invest our efforts in by leveraging on this growth so we shall need to put our money where our mouth is.” added Kaseke. The US is so far the highest performing overseas market in terms of arrivals over a period of 3 years and the ZTA intends to ride on that growth.

Meanwhile the CEO of the Travel Adventure John Golicz shows commended Zimbabwe’s participation at the showcase. “We are excited about having Zimbabwe participate at our shows for the first time in the US and anticipate that they will have fruitful exchanges as our show is one of America’s largest travel show which has connected over 1.25 million travel enthusiasts with 3 100 unique travel marketers in a professional setting.” remarked Golcz. Each year travel trade professionals meet under one roof for business deals and American avid travelers flock to the show to find, plan and book their dream vacation.